


Holiday

by Bam4Me



Series: Like A Broken Angel [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Edwin Might Be A Better Parent, Gen, Halloween, Howard Stark Is Honesty A Good Parent, Howard Stark's Good Parenting, THIS IS A SEQUEL READ THE OTHER ONE FIRST, Tony is 18
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 01:17:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony likes holidays, but he would also like for people to act like normal people again please.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to add, that, if you ask me, what time period this fic is set in, I will direct you to the episode of Doctor Who were all of time happens at once, The Wedding Of River Song.

“He’s like an excited puppy right now, Jarvis, it’s like he couldn’t sit still the entire way here, and as soon as we got here, he had to touch _everything_.”

 

Howard could hear Jarvis laughing on the other side of the line, and quietly thought to himself that he could easily make a more convenient phone than this. Maybe something without wires. “Oh calm down, Howard, he’s like a little kid. As far as he remembers, this is the first time someone’s ever taken him with them to work with him. Not only that, it’s his _daddy_ that’s taken him in to work today. He loves you and he’s just so excited.”

 

Howard sighed when he felt like his heart was breaking and being put back together all over again. Christ, did J always have to bring _feelings_ into things? He personally thinks the world would be a better place without.

 

He looked up from his desk when he heard a small crash coming from the main lab he shared with Bruce, and sighed again. “Okay, yes, I hear a bored teenager, and I’m afraid if I don’t entertain him, he might blow us all up. I have to go, J, we’ll see you later.”

 

“I’m sure, Howard.”

 

“You sure you won’t get lonely, home by yourself today?”

 

“You kidding? I can finally get some things done I’ve been meaning to. Go entertain the boy, I’ll see you later.”

 

Howard heaved himself off the edge of his desk with another, exaggerated, sigh, and headed back into the main lab, one eyebrow raised at the teenager there, already acquainting himself with Howard’s lab and the man he shared it with.

 

It’s not like he needed to share a lab, but ever since he and Obie split –after his old partner showed his true colours at Howard’s choice of life partner, Howard just didn’t feel like sticking around to hear his bullshit anymore- and he’d branched off into medical, meeting Bruce Banner and his wife, Better Ross, had been the most… _interesting_ thing. Of course, having come from being a weapons manufacturer, and trying to get into building technology for medical advancement, had actually set Howard back just a little. Bruce was a genius though, and his wife covered most things either men couldn’t in the psychology department of things. The two men had _politely_ asked if she could find her own lab though, after one too many explosions in this one had put Howard on edge for a week, and nearly sent Bruce into hiding. It was amazing how she could manage to blow up anything.

 

He watched Bruce and Betty though, both of them staring at Tony with rapt attention as the teenager told them some story or another. It was fudging adorable.

 

Bruce caught Howard’s eye and slid away from the conversation to go talk to him, eyes wide. “Howard.”

 

Howard smiled at him. “Ain’t my boy a charmer, Bruce?”

 

Bruce snorted, “That’s one way of putting it… Howard, you… never told me and Betty much about him-“

 

“Nonsense, I’ve told you two lots-“

 

“You told us that he’s excitable, which I can see, isn’t a lie, and you’ve told us that he spends most of his days at home with Jarvis-“

 

“Yeah, he loves his papa, the two of them are inseparable. If he hadn’t been so excited about spending the day with me at work, I probably wouldn’t have been able to pry them apart-“

 

“Howard,” Bruce looked off with another short sigh, looking a bit tired, “Howard, we honestly thought he was… a child. Like, a toddler or something? We didn’t expect him to be a teenager.”

 

Howard blinked a few times, looking between Bruce and the others for a moment. “Is… that’s an issue somehow?”

 

Bruce smiled, shaking his head, “No, it’s not an issue. We just need to have a talk about what’s important details, and what isn’t. Besides that, me and Betty got him a giant teddy bear, and I’m just not sure a teenager-“

 

Howard shrugged, interrupting again, “He seems to like it to me, huh?”

 

Bruce turned back around with a raised eyebrow, before breaking out into a grin at the way that Betty had presented the six foot teddy bear to the teenager, who was nearly vibrating in excitement. Tony was currently trying to hug it, which was adorable because it was bigger than him, and quite a ways bulkier too, Tony seemed to nearly stagger under its weight. “Okay, yeah, I guess he likes it.”

 

***

 

Tony didn’t have any more bruises, but there was still a light pink scar over most of his left arm.

 

It didn’t bother him though. There were a few scars left over, but his left arm was the worst of it. Why would it bother him though? Literally, the first thing he could remember in life, was pain. When the pain went away, there were scars.

 

Tony would take the scars over the pain any day.

 

Jarvis seemed to fuss over it though. Don’t get it wrong, he wasn’t upset if he could see it, or asking Tony to wear long sleeves in public, but he did fuss over the scar itself. He kept putting funny smelling goop all over it, and one time, this white stuff that smelled like chocolate cake, but trust Tony on this one, it did _not_ taste like cake, that was one mistake he wasn’t gonna make again.

 

Jarvis was fussing at it again. He was also fussing at a scar on Tony’s back that was a darker pink still. Apparently, that one had been deep, but Tony had been mostly too bruised up to notice it.

 

There weren’t any bruises now though, and Jarvis was putting pressure into the muscles while he rubbed the chocolate smelling stuff in, and Tony was turning into a boneless puddle on the middle of the living room, half spread out over the giant teddy bear he’d fallen asleep on earlier.

 

This was amazing.

 

Earlier, Jarvis had asked him if his back hurt, because he was moving funny, but, to be honest, Tony hadn’t been sure, because his own frame of reference was waking up seven months ago in agony. Jarvis says that he must have been in lots of pain because Tony felt like he was floating a little right now.

 

Tony looked up a little when he heard the garage door opening and shutting again, but didn’t think too much of it. Daddy and Rhodey must have gotten home. Rhodey didn’t drive, and Daddy was only home this early when Rhodey came around to pester him into coming home at an appropriate time of the day, and to give him a ride.

 

Tony didn’t much mind them though, because Papa was amazing, and he fully understood why Daddy loved him so much, because Tony felt awesome, and he might take another nap today.

 

Tony was just letting out some soft snores when Howard and Rhodey came into the room. Jarvis made a motion for them to keep quiet and got off of the floor next to the teen, wiping any extra coconut shea butter off on his own hands as he went. Rhodey had a stupid dopey grin while he looked at the teen, and Howard just grinned at them both before giving Jarvis a kiss hello.

 

Tony slept for a few more hours like that, and they were all willing to let him, because Howard had noticed lately that Tony barely sleeps at all now that he isn’t on pain killers, but he seems fine like this. Jarvis had turned up the heater in the living room and left a blanket over him for a while.

 

Tony finally came wandering into the kitchen a few hours later, still wrapped up in the blanket, and looking around for food. Christ, he’s cute.

 

***

 

“I think I might, have accidentally, given your kid, The Talk.”

 

Now, as far as ice breakers go, Howard has heard worse, and also, better. He looked up at Betty with his lips in a thin line. “Hi, how is your day going?”

 

Betty huffed out a breath, and crossed her arms. “He was asking about what made human touches different, and why he wasn’t allowed to do some of them-“

 

“Please, please tell me you at least convinced him that he doesn’t need to try it out yet?”

 

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Betty came into the office, and sat down across from Howard, arms still crossed. “I’ve always firmly believed, that if you can’t talk about sex, or don’t know what it’s for, you _shouldn’t_ be having it. Thing is, Tony doesn’t seem to have either of those issues. I’ve explained things to him, and now he knows it’s purpose. My issue with him engaging in the act right now, lies under the category of not thinking he’s _ready_ for that kind of thing.”

 

“Is he okay with that?”

 

She reluctantly nodded, “I still don’t think he understands, but once I explained that he’s trying to figure out too many other things in his life, and this one might just confuse him, he’s agreed to not attempt it right now. Which is good, because the way that he’s flits between acting perfectly adolescent to rambling on like a three year old, I think going down that road might actually make Rhodes feel like a child molester. I’ve already had him come in once this month and ask me if he needs to discourage Tony at all. I told him he didn’t as long as he was smart enough to remember to keep his hands to himself. He is, by the way, smart enough that is.”

 

Howard nodded, seeming to take that in good spirits. “Alright. Thank you. I’m not upset, actually, this means I don’t have to talk to him about it, and that makes me gleeful.”

 

Betty stood up, just barely holding back from rolling her eyes. How he could say that with such a bland voice, she never knew.

 

***

 

Jarvis felt a little bit like a mother with a small child right now. A clingy small child.

 

He was also starting to wonder if Tony might be a little bit autistic, because the one time that someone –Howard, because he’s dumber than he looks- had tried to pry –literally, pry- Tony off of him, the boy had let out this dangerously high pitched humming noise in the back of his throat, like he was seconds away from an overload. Howard for once, in a show of that giant fucking brain of his, had wisely backed off.

 

Jarvis was fine though. Tony might be physically attached to his front, but Jarvis still had a high enough range of motion and movement to be able to do a few things. Like, right now, he was trying to coax the teenager into opening his eyes again so he could eat the orange slice Jarvis was holding out.

 

Actually no, Jarvis thinks that right now, Tony is sleep deprived, worse than he’s ever seen Howard before, and completely unsure how to help himself right now.

 

Jarvis is hoping that the sugar from some fruit will be enough to wake him, so that Jarvis can convince him to go to sleep up stairs.

 

See, Tony is still in that stage, where the idea of permanence is foreign to him, and he’s not sure how everything works. He’d been up for three days straight as of now, trying to finish the mail order educational classes that Howard wanted him to do, so he could finish high school and be able to go to MIT next fall like Tony was saying he wanted to do. He was working off of the one nap that Jarvis had convinced him to take the first day, and otherwise, not going to sleep any time soon.

 

Jarvis isn’t sure what he thinks will happen if he goes to sleep, but if it’s anything like a common childhood fear, he might be afraid that that’s the end of everything, once you go to sleep. He seemed content to cling to wakefulness in a zombie like state.

 

He was like a small, clingy, non-eating zombie. Which, is worrisome, because as far as Jarvis knew, zombies should eat something.

 

Tony finally blinked, smelling the orange and off to investigate, but took another few seconds to process what it was. After another few, he opened his mouth for it, and gave another humming noise when Jarvis gave it to him, happy to not have to move to get it. Moving seemed like a bad idea right now. Daddy had just gone back to his lab with Rhodey a few minutes ago, which is good, because they had been bothering him lots. He was _trying_ to get a snuggle right here. He’s not sure his brain is really working right now, and he just needs to cuddle with Papa, okay? Okay.

 

Jarvis smiled at the complacence. At least Tony was still willing to listen to him. Well, do his bidding, more than listening, but still. Tony was making upset, drowsy noises when he was finished with the orange, and Jarvis sighed, leaning down and picking him up under the legs and behind the back. That at least got him to tiredly grumble into Jarvis’ neck, but Jarvis just nodded to himself and take him up stairs in the hopes of getting him to sleep.

 

Being a parent was harder than he thought it’d be.

 

***

 

Tony was such a sweet boy. He was polite, and said please and thank you, and always said goodnight to his papa before bed, because Papa gave him a kiss and sometimes tucked him in, and he was a very very good boy.

 

Right now, Bucky did not agree with this statement.

 

“Oh come on, Buck, he’s just mad his daddies are out without him.”

 

Tony was grumbling on the couch about how upset he was that they could _possibly_ think they’d have a nice night out without their perfect babums Tony. It made absolutely no sense to him. How could anyone have fun without their Tony? Everyone needed a Tony to make things better.

 

“Stevie, we’re babysitting an eighteen year old.”

 

Tony sat up on the couch, glaring at them. “Excuse _you_ , I’m a small child, and my parents have _abandoned_ me!”

 

Bucky gave him a horrified look, before shifting his eyes back to Steve, “See, he’s broken or something!”

 

Steve scoffed, cuffing Bucky round the back of his head. “He’s not _broken_ , Buck, he’s just a little upset. Hey, Tony? Tony, sweetheart, do you wanna watch a movie with me? I promise it’ll be fun, and we’ll make snacks, and you can even have extra candy.” Which is something that Jarvis had told them, under no circumstances were they to give into that demand. Of course, no one ever called Steve the brains of their family, so you really couldn’t blame him.

 

Tony glared at Bucky for a few more seconds before turning back around on the couch and shrugging. “I guess.”

 

Steve gave Bucky a slightly superior look, “See, Buck, babysitting isn’t so hard. You just gotta know how to bribe ‘em!”

 

***

 

Tony liked the Lady and the Tramp. It was a good movie. And This candy was good candy. He’d talked Steve into giving him the nummy gummy stuffs, and it was good.

 

He kind of felt like he could hear colours if he tried hard enough.

 

“Steve, he’s kind of… uh… buzzing?”

 

Steve looked away from the tv, and his eyes went wide. Tony kind of was buzzing, and looked a little dazed.

 

“Hmm…”

 

Bucky gawked at him, “Hmm?? Steve, he’s like… he’s making noises and I’m pretty sure he can’t even hear us, and all you can say is, ‘hmm’?? Steve, he’s like, losin’ it over here!” He poked Tony in the side and jumped a little when Tony’s humming went up a few octaves, sounding slightly dangerous.

 

Steve let out a huff of air, his shoulders lifting up in a shrug, “Well, now we know why Jarvis said no more sugar.”

 

***

 

“This is probably the worst idea we’ve ever had.”

 

Jarvis shrugged, “Nah, remember that time we did drugs? That was a bad idea.”

 

Howard rolled his eyes, but Steve was giving him a questioning look, which he ignored. Tony mostly just seemed confused, before going back to letting Steve try and fit him into a giant orange monstrosity. He didn’t know what it was for, but Howard had taken one look at the pumpkin and had given himself a slow motion face palm while slowly sinking into the door jam of him and Jarvis’ room.

 

Apparently, Daddy didn’t like pumpkins. Weird.

 

Though, maybe Tony’s starting to see why, because last week Jarvis made him carve a face into one, and also made a pie, and Tony’s pretty sure he’s eaten so many pumpkin shaped treats within the last week that it might not be healthy. He’s starting to not like pumpkins either.

 

He didn’t know what was so important about tonight, but Jarvis was trying to dress him up like a pumpkin, and Tony might have been slightly worried that they were going to sacrifice him like all the other pumpkins this week.

 

No wait, that’s murder, and Steve said that’s frowned upon in most circles. But, this isn’t a circle, this room is shaped more like a rectangle. Maybe they’ll kill him here. Yeah.

 

“It’s not a bad idea, Howard. Look at him, he’s adorable. What about that is a bad idea?”

 

Howard shook his head, “Not the costume, him going trick or treating. It-“

 

“Fine. It’s fine. Howard, he’s never got trick or treating before, we have to-“

 

“Hey, I never went trick or treating as a kid, there’s nothing wrong with-“

 

“Which is why you get to take him.”

 

Howard paused, before looking over at Tony who was fully dressed as a pumpkin right now. He was freaking adorable, but he was also kind of…

 

“I don’t like it.” Tony said, looking at himself in the mirror. Steve and Jarvis’ faces both fell, but Tony didn’t budge, a stubborn look on his features.

 

“You don’t like it, kiddo?”

 

Tony shook his head, “No, Papa. I don’t want to be a pumpkin.”

 

Jarvis sighed, “Why not?”

 

Tony shrugged, helping Steve take the costume back off of him, which went much faster than putting it on. They had a back up costume, but Tony had looked so damn cute in this one.

 

“I’m not ready to die yet. It’s nice here, and I don’t think it would be very nice if I died now.”

 

Jarvis and Howard went over to the other side of the room, quietly trying to figure out what the fuck _that_ meant, while a disturbed looking Steve helped him get dressed into a different costume they already had ready for Tony.

 

This one was relatively similar, but it was orange overalls, a black and white striped shirt, and the same green pumpkin hat as before. It still had the pumpkin face on it in black decors, but Tony didn’t argue about this one at least.

 

Well, one good thing, this one actually matched Rhodey’s, which would be adorable too, and Jarvis was going to force them to take pictures, because Tony was adorable, and matching costumes are cute.

 

“Hey, is Tony dressed yet?”

 

Tony let out the most undignified look, pretty much lunging for the new figure in the doorway. It was Rhodey, and he was wearing overalls too, but his were black, and he didn’t have a pumpkin hat, he had cat ears.

 

“Kitty!”

 

Rhodey caught the teen easily, and Tony turned around to glomp him. “Yeah Tony, I’m a cat. You’re a pumpkin, and I’m a black cat, it’s a Halloween tradition.”

 

Tony blinked up at him, that cute dazed look he always got when he was in his Rhodey-is-amazing-and-I-love-him-more-than-anything mood, before cocking his head ever so slightly. “What’s Halloween?”

 

Rhodey blinked this time, before looking up to the others. Howard was looking towards the ceiling, like he was trying to remember something, and Jarvis and Steve just looked shocked. “You… Tony, you don’t know what day it is today?”

 

Tony blinked back a few times. “…Friday?”

 

Rhodey sighed, looking down before ushering Tony over to sit on his parents’ bed. He knelt down, tying Tony’s boots for him so he wouldn’t trip. Surprised he didn’t trip on his way over to the door. “Did none of you explain to him what holiday this is?”

 

Jarvis opened and closed his mouth a few times. “I… it never occurred to me that he wouldn’t know. He never questioned all the decorations and treats-“

 

“Probably because you have him so many cookies, he was afraid if he said anything, you’d stop.”

 

Tony hummed on the bed, squirming to make it harder for Rhodey to tie his shoes. He liked them all floppy like that, thanks. He neither confirmed nor denied Howard’s statement, mostly, because, Daddy was right. He was kind of worried that Papa was forgetting how much candy he’d been giving him, and if Tony said anything, he’d suddenly remember and stop. He didn’t want the cookies to stop, even if it _was_ a little scary how many pumpkins they seemed to be sacrificing.

 

“What’s Halloween?”

 

Rhodey looked between the adults who were all worried, and back to Tony, before smiling. “Free candy.”

 

That didn’t sound like such a bad idea in Tony’s opinion.

 

***

 

“What do we say when we get to the door and they answer?”

 

Tony thought about that for a second. He had an orange bucket with a pumpkin face on it, but he was tired of pumpkins. They need to go away, he’s starting to not like pumpkins so much. Maybe that’s why everything was made out of pumpkin, because everyone else hated them too.

 

He looked over at Rhodey’s bucket. His was a kitty. Tony reached over and took the bucket out of Rhodey’s hands, giving him the orange one in return. That was much better.

 

He turned over to look at Jarvis again. They were in the living room now, and there were already tons of people over that day. Daddy said they were having a party, and there was gonna be candy, and no one was gonna try and force him to go to bed before fun things could happen. He liked this. There were lots of Daddy’s employees, and people that worked with them at SHIELD. He contemplated the bucket in his hands for a few more seconds, before smiling all big and happy, holding out the bucket to Jarvis.

 

“Gimmie candy!”

 

Howard let out a horrible sounding laugh, which he immediately stifled when Jarvis turned to glare at him, and Jarvis turned to look at the rest of the room as a whole, “Which one of you jerks taught him that?”

 

Bucky immediately pointed to Peggy, who in turn, pointed back at Bucky. Great.

 

***

 

Tony liked Halloween so far. It was dark out, and normally Papa never let him leave the house after it was dark (he said it was dangerous, but Tony thought it was fun) and strangers were giving him candy and calling him and Rhodey cute, and Daddy was out with them so no one would be mean to them. Also, they gave out full sized candy bars on this street, and that was awesome.

 

That is, until someone thought it would be a good idea to try and jump scare them since neither of them were little kids.

 

“I told you, trick or treating was a bad idea.”

 

Jarvis reached over to smack Howard on the back of the head. The party was already started in the house, and Jarvis had been in the kitchen, waiting for Howard to get back with Tony and Rhodey. What he hadn’t expected was for Tony to immediately latch onto him as soon as he saw him, and quite grumpily, refuse to budge from him.

 

“He’s fine, Howard. Everyone gets scared at some point, just calm down.”

 

Howard leaned against the other side of the counter, and Rhodey had been accosted by Phil, who now had him off in another room to talk about his SHIELD application, because Phil Coulson and Nick Fury were mentally incapable of not talking about work. Howard was grumbling something about teenagers being assholes, and Jarvis kicked him in the shin.

 

“Is he okay?”

 

Howard turned around and smiled. “Miss Potts. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine, just got a bit of a fright.” He paused, head cocking to the side. Pepper had been his assistant for over a year now, and she was one of the most responsible people of her age group that Howard could name. “Actually, I’m wondering, could you possibly get him into the party and introduced to people you know? He’s a bit… shy.”

 

Tony made a noise like a broken computer when Howard pried him off of Jarvis, glaring back at them unhappily when they gave him over to Pepper. Ugh, this was a _stranger_ , and he didn’t like those anymore. You’re both awful parents.

 

***

 

Tony didn’t mind this party so much anymore. Rhodey was back with him, and Pepper had introduced him to Phil’s husband, Clint, who was currently teaching him how to blow things up using cookies. Also, Tony was eating cookies, which was always helpful.

 

“Hi, Natasha.”

 

A pretty redhead (who _wasn’t_ Pepper) came over to the group in one of the side rooms. It was supposed to be for the kids at the party, but apparently, Howard and Jarvis didn’t know anyone else with kids, and so it turned into the ‘let’s stay in here so no one notices how much candy Tony is eating and gets him in trouble’ room. Tony was starting to hear colours again.

 

She sat in between Clint and Pepper (who looked a little star struck to be honest) and sat down. A few seconds later, Bucky followed her into the room, and sat next to Tony on the other side of the table.

 

Clint was dressed up like a bird, and he made a very good bird, Tony thought, and had feathers in his hair and kept getting on top of the book shelf. Natasha was dressed like a bird watcher, and Tony thought that was cute. They matched, just like him and Rhodey.

 

Matching was good.

 

***

 

Thanksgiving was different. For one, they actually told Tony that it was coming.

 

Apparently, people in America (and hadn’t that been an interesting conversation. Howard and Jarvis had actually had to _sit Tony down_ and explain to him that _here_ is not the only place that people live when Rhodey had told them all that he was going back to his parents house for this holiday) celebrated the slaughter of the _original_ American people, and covered everything in ugly turkey hand prints.

 

America was weird.

 

Tony was sad though, because Rhodey was gone, but they had over Steve, and Bucky, and Peggy, and Angie, and Bruce, and Betty, and a _whole_ bunch of other people that Tony didn’t give one fuck about. None of the other people brought his presents and candy, why should he care about them.

 

There was a big colourful parade on the tv, but that had confused Tony too, but it was pretty, and Daddy scolded him twice for being too close to the tv.

 

But… Rhodey still wasn’t there.

 

Howard and Jarvis were going to count this one as a win anyways, because that had been his only complaint the entire week, and that’s good. That means everything else was okay.

 

***

 

“My parents really want me back with them for Christmas.”

 

The words came out in a quiet, nervous way, that immediately made Tony’s face fall. He looked over at the other couch where Howard and Jarvis were sitting, completely unsettled. He honestly didn’t know what to do with this information.

 

Of course, you had to know the facts. Tony was looking forward to Christmas. He didn’t remember much about it, barely knew anything about the holiday other than random facts that his mind supplied him with. He knew that it was bright, and snowy –something that was already going on, in late November, but still- and that there were reds and golds –his favorite colours- and greens and silvers, and you wrapped beautiful presents under a tree to open Christmas morning –Jarvis and Howard had already taken him out separately a few times just to look for presents with him, it was amazing- and everyone got together and had a nice time… it sounded so amazing.

 

He wanted to spend it with everyone that he loved. He loved his dads, and he loved Steve and Bucky, and he loved Peggy and Angie, and Bruce and Betty, and he loved Rhodey. These were all people that he wanted with him on Christmas.

 

Rhodey was going to be on break for almost the entire month of December, and well into a week after New Years, and that meant a whole _lot_ of time with his boyfriend, and a whole _lot_ of kisses and cuddles that Rhodey should be giving him.

 

But… no Rhodey?

 

He looked back over to his dads and nearly felt like throwing a small tantrum when he realized none of them were paying attention to him, which really upset him, because he was like a baby, you couldn’t expect him to flail through something that he honestly doesn’t understand, because he couldn’t even fathom how to get through this would maybe crying a little.

 

Rhodey was looking at him, concerned at the upset look on his face, and that just made Tony want to throw an even bigger tantrum. If he’d been more tired, he probably would have. Then again, if he’d been more awake, and not drowsing on Rhodey when he’d said it, maybe he wouldn’t want to throw one at all.

 

“Rhodey, what’s your parents street address, sweetheart?”

 

Rhodey looked up at Jarvis, always the peacemaker in the house, and sighed, rattling off the numbers for him. Jarvis gave him one of those sunshine-y smiles back and started typing on the tablet in his lap again, making appreciative humming noises while he looked at it. “Oh, this place looks nice.”

 

Tony snuffled a little, feeling tired and techy right now. “Wha ‘ooks nice?”

 

Jarvis looked up at him and let out a sad sigh. “Hey, sweets, you wanna come sit over here so you can look too?”

 

Tony was tired, but dutifully got off the couch, wedging himself into the seat when Jarvis shoved Howard over a foot, and turning his head into Jarvis’ shoulder so he didn’t have to see the tablet’s glare. Jarvis quietly nudged him into taking a look anyways, and Tony found them looking at a house.

 

They’d already explained that the world had more people in it than just _here_ , but Tony still didn’t understand what they were doing exactly, because he lived _here_ and not _there_ , so what were they doing?

 

“We were hoping that we could all go down to Philly for the month. You can rent a furnished house down there for thirty days, and then we’d all be close still, and you would be able to spend Christmas with Rhodey too.”

 

Tony blinked a few times at the screen, smiling, “We’re going somewhere else?”

 

“Yeah, all of us.”

 

“That’s good. But only if it’s all of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> i writ a thing
> 
> the second chapter is gonna have them having christmas in philly
> 
> EDIT: I forgot to add, that, if you ask me, what time period this fic is set in, I will direct you to the episode of Doctor Who were all of time happens at once, The Wedding Of River Song.


End file.
